Computer systems are widely applied to a variety of tasks in today's increasingly computerized business environment. In particular, over the past several years, computerization has found its way into outbound telephone calling operations through the introduction of systems intended to acquire live contacts for telephone operators without requiring them to spend the necessary time to dial telephone calls and listen to non-productive call results such as busy signals, no answers, and answering machines.
A major limitation of computerized telephone equipment has been the inability to display the information for a supervisor so he is able to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the equipment and the operators on line. Most equipment provides for some visual display of information, usually in tabular form though sometimes in graphical form. Printed results after completion of the calling day are also generally available. But the ability of a non-technical supervisor to assimilate this information and act on it has been limited by display techniques which make it difficult to monitor the information which is of most concern to them while it is actually happening.
The nature of human effectiveness at any task dictates that corrective instructions to human operators engaged n a calling task is best done as close as possible to the time the task is performed. The nature of large system installations dictates that a supervisor be able to review the progress of an operation at the overview level as well as the detail level to provide the sort of corrective action that is needed. It is desirable for a supervisor to be able to identify global problems and then zero in on them in a simple fashion. It should also be possible for the supervisor to modify the parameters of that review as necessary. The present invention fulfills these needs, and further provides other related advantages.